A wide array of medical products use adhesive for affixing the product onto a user's skin. As will be appreciated, it is desirable to prevent or at least minimize microbial growth or reproduction along the interface of adhesive and skin, as such can readily lead to infection and other undesirable conditions.
Accordingly, artisans have incorporated a wide range of antimicrobial agents into medical products or materials. Although a limited number of such agents have been incorporated into adhesives, effective incorporation into an adhesive composition presents a formidable technical challenge for numerous other antimicrobial agents. It is difficult to efficiently disperse such agents within the adhesive. Furthermore, certain antimicrobial agents undergo a loss in efficacy upon incorporation.
Chlorhexidine gluconate has a broad antimicrobial spectrum, is safe, and is well accepted in the market. However chlorhexidine gluconate has never been incorporated into solvent based acrylic adhesives which are the standard for surgical applications due to their low cost and good adhesion on skin in dry and wet conditions.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method for incorporating chlorhexidine gluconate into an adhesive formulation such that the compound is effectively dispersed and retains its efficacy when residing in the adhesive.